Reach the Right Audience for Your App with an App Campaign
What is an App campaign from Google Ads?
How can an App campaign help my business?
How can I set up an App campaign?
Let’s pretend you run a club that hosts live music. You’re putting on a show featuring an up-and-coming heavy metal band and want to get the word out.
You know there are people in your town who want to rock and roll all night. Reaching them could mean a big draw at your venue. It might even lead to a weekly metal night, and more moshing could be the ticket to earning more money.
You’ve been thinking about buying some radio ads to reach the metal-heads and bring them out to the show.
But what’s the best strategy for buying these ads?
Advertising to an audience that is interested in your type of product is generally smart business, whether you’re marketing music shows or mobile apps.
That’s why, for marketing mobile apps, many people use App campaigns from Google Ads. These identify potential consumers based on their online activity, helping you reach people who are likely to go for your app.
See, many people agree to share data when they’re online. This includes what they search for, what websites they visit, what apps they use, and what videos they watch.
App campaigns use a process called “machine learning” to analyze this data and figure out people’s tastes for certain apps or other features. This allows them to show your ads to people who might go for what you’re offering.
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App campaigns work for iOS and Android apps, placing ads on Google properties like the Google Display Network, Search, and YouTube in many countries.
But App campaigns don’t magically know what you want to advertise. You need to provide some key info.
Before creating an App campaign, it’s good to understand what your app does for your business and for users. That way, you’ll be sure to promote its benefits.
First, consider a broad category like health, dating, or education that your app fits in. Then, look at other apps in your category to identify both your competition and what makes your app unique.
You can also think about how your app serves people. Does it entertain them with a game, help them buy clothes on the go, or teach them to cook? Playing up this benefit in your ads might help your app stand out.
If your app brings in money, look at the methods you use. Maybe it’s by having people pay for the initial download, make in-app purchases (IAPs), buy a subscription, or a combo of these. Your marketing can drive users to complete these actions.
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Your app might create value for your business other than helping you make money from within the app. It might help bring in new customers, drive in-store purchases, or provide for a better user experience. See if this leads to insights on what text, images or videos to put in your ads.
You’ve thought about your goals for your app and your marketing. Now, it’s time to create a campaign that helps you reach these mobile milestones.
If you have a Google Ads account, create a new campaign and select App campaign as your “Campaign Type.” Then, enter who you want to advertise to and what you want them to do (AKA your optimization goal).
Creating an optimization goal requires entering some basic info: the platform your app runs on, languages your target customers speak, and locations you want to focus on. This could be a particular region, a country, or the whole world.
You can then specify if you want new users to install your app or if you want current users to complete a specific action within your app – something like buying a particular item or upgrading to the ad-free version of your app.
For example, say you host videos on your app. A famous director just put out a new series of films exclusively for your app that people can buy. Your campaign’s optimization goal might be getting users to purchase these videos.
When you’ve set that goal, the app campaign can find users of your app who make lots of in-app purchases. It can also find fans of the director. Then, it can serve these people ads that mark your app as a binge-worthy spot.
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Want to get new users who are also likely to perform a specific action in your app? You can specify that in your optimization goals, too.
But if you set a goal, it’s important to see if you’re succeeding. That means examining data on what’s happening with your app.
Most marketing for mobile apps encourages users to do something. So it’s important to know the stats on how you’re doing to see if you improve over time.
The rate at which you’re achieving a goal for your app at any given time is your conversion data. For example, if 35 out of 100 people who visit your Play Store listing install your app, you’re converting 35% of potential new users.
You can measure this data with an app analytics program like Firebase. Set it up in your app and connect it to your Google Ads account. Then, the program can inform your campaign about who installs your app and what they do with it.
The machine learning can then look for patterns in your conversion data. It can also analyze the data to figure out how to find new potential users who act similarly to people who’ve installed and use your app.
Over time, your App campaign will continue to learn about who installs and uses your app, helping make its ability to find new potential customers more precise.
But an App campaign can’t just make your ads out of thin air. It needs you to provide the creative content that will bring the masses to your app.
Provide the creative assets – text, images, and videos – that you think are best for your target audience. Try using a range of potential assets so that you and the App campaign can see what performs best over time.
As the App campaign examines which ads are helping you reach your optimization goal, it can start using your assets to create new ads that hopefully drive even more success.
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Creating assets that celebrate what makes your app unique is key to getting results from your App campaign. So let’s think a little about what your app does and how it benefits people.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
App campaigns from Google Ads use machine learning to help you identify potential users who can help you reach your goals for your app.
Thinking about your goals before you create an App campaign can help you create a campaign that identifies the potential customers.
Before creating an App campaign, install an app analytics program that can measure whether your campaign succeeds.